Millions Of Shanghai Folk Test Again For COVID Amid Searing Heat

Millions of Shanghai residents braved the blistering heat Tuesday to queue for mandatory COVID testing, as rising case numbers and the emergence of a highly contagious Omicron subvariant fueled new worries of a return to mass lockdown, CNN's Nectar Gan reported.

Photo Insert: A resident who recovered from COVID departing the makeshift hospital converted from Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center of International Sourcing in Shanghai

After a case of the new BA.5.2.1 subvariant was detected in the community on July 8, Shanghai authorities ordered the majority of the city's 16 districts to undergo two rounds of testing from Tuesday to Thursday.

The highly transmissible BA.5 form is rapidly spreading over the world and is viewed as a big concern by authorities in China, the only major country to follow a strict zero-COVID strategy.

New Omicron sub-variants have been detected in a number of Chinese cities, including the capital Beijing, the northeastern port city of Dalian, and the central city of Xi'an, which was closed for seven days due to the outbreak. As a blistering heat wave sweeps the country, the number of cases is increasing, as are the restrictions.

Temperatures in Shanghai reached 40 degrees Celsius on Sunday, prompting authorities to issue the highest level of red alert (104 Fahrenheit).

The scorching heat has made mass testing more painful for people – some of whom have to line for hours – and Covid staff, who are outfitted head to toe in impermeable PPE equipment.

Photos of workers in hazmat suits laying on ice blocks went viral on Chinese social media, while health experts warned of heatstroke among COVID workers who spend long hours outdoors in full protective clothes.

An outbreak in a karaoke bar caused an increase in infections in Shanghai earlier this month. It reported about 400 cases in the last ten days. The spike has sparked fears that the business hub may be placed under mass lockdown again, just weeks after its people were released from two months of solitary confinement.

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